With 79% of Americans having or expecting to take at least one trip this summer, according to Priceline’s 2026 travel report, new data from travel eSIM provider, Holafly, has determined the safest U.S. airports for taxi and rideshare pickups, based on each airport’s tier of rideshare pickup zone verification process, the number of searches surrounding “illegal taxis,” the number of scam mentions in each airport’s Google reviews, and more, uncovering which of the 20 busiest U.S. airports is the safest to get a taxi or rideshare after arriving.
Top 20 safest airports for ride pickups
| Rank 🏆 | Airport Name ✈️ | City 🌇 | Taxi/Rideshare Pickup Zone Verification Tier 🚖 | “[Airport] illegal taxi” SV ⚠️ | Google Maps Reviews Mentioning Scams 😬 | Likelihood of scams per 1M passengers 😧 |
| 1 | General Edward Lawrence Logan International | Boston | 2 | 960 | 1 | 200 |
| 2 | Harry Reid International | Las Vegas | 1 | 3,270 | 10 | 79 |
| 3 | Minneapolis-St. Paul International | Minneapolis | 2 | 2,020 | 1 | 244 |
| 4 | Phoenix Sky Harbor International | Phoenix | 1 | 610 | 5 | 211 |
| 5 | Denver International | Denver | 1 | 2,390 | 10 | 123 |
| 6 | Chicago O’Hare International | Chicago | 3 | 2,230 | 11 | 178 |
| 7 | Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International | Atlanta | 2 | 1,460 | 13 | 154 |
| 8 | Newark Liberty International | Newark | 3 | 1,210 | 9 | 223 |
| 9 | Charlotte/Douglas International | Charlotte | 2 | 1,410 | 6 | 317 |
| 10 | Seattle-Tacoma International | Seattle | 2 | 3,720 | 14 | 260 |
| 11 | Detroit Metro Wayne County | Detroit | 3 | 3,510 | 3 | 437 |
| 12 | Dallas-Fort Worth International | Dallas | 1 | 1,100 | 18 | 371 |
| 13 | George Bush Intercontinental/Houston | Houston | 2 | 470 | 5 | 659 |
| 14 | Miami International | Miami | 3 | 1,920 | 13 | 547 |
| 15 | Orlando International | Orlando | 1 | 7,170 | 12 | 516 |
| 16 | Los Angeles International | Los Angeles | 1 | 5,720 | 11 | 585 |
| 17 | Laguardia | New York | 3 | 5,630 | 9 | 635 |
| 18 | San Francisco International | San Francisco | 1 | 9,930 | 5 | 813 |
| 19 | Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International | Fort Lauderdale | 1 | 860 | 4 | 924 |
| 20 | John F. Kennedy International | New York | 3 | 75,100 | 37 | 336 |
Phoenix Sky Harbor International ranks as the #4 safest U.S. airport for ride pickups
Phoenix Sky Harbor International is the #4 safest U.S. airport for ride pickups. The airport has the second-lowest number of searches regarding illegal taxi scams and has a low count of five reviews mentioning scams. Phoenix Sky Harbor International also has a very strong taxi and rideshare verification process, utilizing RFID-based tracking systems, mandatory company permits, physical vehicle decals, and on-site enforcement by the airport’s Ground Transportation Office to verify every rideshare and taxi vehicle queuing and picking up passengers.
Methodology
To determine the safest U.S. airports for rideshare and taxi pickups, we analyzed factors such as the tier of dedicated rideshare pickup zone and app-based zone verification (license plate readers, RFID tracking, etc.) (25%), the search volume surrounding “illegal taxis” for each airport (25%), the number of scam mentions in each airport’s Google reviews (20%), and the likelihood of scams per passenger (BBB Scam Tracker report count, last 12 months) (30%), to uncover which of the 20 busiest U.S. airports is the safest to take a taxi or rideshare after arriving. Data is accurate as of August 11, 2026.
*BBB Scam Tracker data is reported at the state level, not by city or airport; the Likelihood of Scams Per Passenger figure applies each airport’s home-state scam-report rate to that airport’s passenger volume as a hypothetical projection, not a rate measured at the airport itself.
**Several airports sit in a separate municipality or county from the city typically associated with them (e.g., Harry Reid in Paradise, NV; San Francisco International in San Mateo County; Seattle-Tacoma in the city of SeaTac; Detroit Metro in Romulus, MI). Scam data reflects the airport’s actual host jurisdiction where that distinction affects the underlying source.
